EdX

Age of Sustainable Development (edX)

Offered by SDGAcademyX, SDG Academy,
Age of Sustainable Development (edX)

Learn the basics of sustainable development -- what it is, why it's important and how we can achieve it. Sustainable development is the most urgent challenge facing humanity.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see EdX's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Its fundamental question is: How can the world economy continue to develop in a way that is socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable? This course provides a broad overview of the interactions between the economy and our environment and humanity, from the constraints of finite resources, to the activities that drive climate change, to equality for all.

This course is an updated version of Professor Sachs' popular 2015 course of the same name. It includes new perspectives and a reorientation towards Agenda 2030 and the SDGs.
Join us for this introduction to the tenets of sustainable development, developed by experts on the latest in the social, policy and physical sciences.
This course is for:

  • Anyone new to the concept of sustainable development who wants to understand its foundations and its relevance to their life and work
  • Graduate students and advanced undergraduate students interested in the key concepts and practices of sustainability and global values
  • Sustainable development practitioners - as well as private-sector actors, such as those who work in corporate sustainability and responsibility - who want a concise overview of the latest developments in the field

What you'll learn

  • The basics of the Sustainable Development Goals
  • The role of people: from inequality, to poverty, to health and human rights
  • The role of the planet: planetary boundaries, the value of renewable energy, and sustainable -consumption of our natural resources
  • How to help nations, businesses and economies flourish without leaving anyone behind

Syllabus

Module 1: What is Sustainable Development?

  • Intro to Sustainable Development (SD)
  • Economic Growth & Progress
  • Continuing Poverty
  • Environmental Threats
  • Business-as-usual vs. SD
  • From the MDGs to the SDGs: Agenda 2030

Module 2: Economic Development

  • Incomes Around the World
  • Urban/Rural Inequality
  • Income Inequality Within Countries
  • Measuring Wellbeing
  • Convergence or Divergence

Module 3: History of Economic Development

  • Economic Development from 1750
  • Industrial Revolution
  • Waves of Tech Change
  • Diffusion of Economic Growth
  • Economic Development Since WWII

Module 4: Inequality Between Countries

  • Clinical Economics
  • The Role of Physical Geography: Transport, Energy, Disease, Crops
  • The Role of Culture: Demography, Education, Gender
  • The Role of Politics
  • Countries Stuck in Poverty

Module 5: MDGs: End of Extreme Poverty

  • Extreme Poverty Can End
  • Ending Extreme Poverty in Africa
  • Food Supply in South Asia
  • Official Development Assistance
  • Designing Practical Interventions: Millennium Villages Projects

Module 6: Growth Within Planetary Boundaries

  • The Origins of the Boundary Concept: Thomas Malthus
  • Neo-Malthusian Frameworks: Growth Dynamics
  • The 9 Planetary Boundaries
  • Living Within Limits: Energy, Agriculture and Industry

Module 7: Human Rights, Gender Equality

  • Ethics: Wealth, Poverty, Inequality
  • UN Declarations
  • Divided Societies
  • Forces of Widening Inequalities
  • Gender Inequality & Solutions

Module 8: Education

  • Human Development: Life-Cycle Approach
  • Early Childhood Development
  • Education & the Supply Response
  • Social Mobility
  • The Role of Higher Ed

Module 9: Universal Health Coverage

  • Human Right to Health
  • Poverty & Disease
  • Designing a Health System in Low-Income Countries
  • Healthcare for All
  • Health Coverage in High-Income Countries

Module 10: Sustainable Food Supply: the End of Hunger

  • Malnutrition
  • Farm Systems, Ecology, Food Security
  • How Environmental Change Threatens the Food System
  • How the Food System Threatens the Environment
  • A Sustainable Global Food Supply
Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Sustainable Development: The Post-Capitalist Order (edX) EdX
SDGAcademyX,SDG Academy

Sustainable Development: The Post-Capitalist Order (edX)

Economics & Finance Social Sciences

Sustainable development represents a shift from our current system of inequitable capitalism to one that prioritizes prosperity for all, while remaining conscious of its environmental impact and sustainability for future generations. Learn why sustainable development has been adopted by countries and multilateral organizations around the world, and how this approach is transforming the way we live, work, and govern our planet.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Sustainability Globalization Capitalism
Details
(Re)Imagining Port Cities: Understanding Space, Society and Culture (edX) EdX
Delft University of Technology,DelftX

(Re)Imagining Port Cities: Understanding Space, Society and Culture (edX)

Humanities

Port city regions are at the forefront of many urgent contemporary issues such as migration, climate change, digitization, etc. Addressing these challenges and developing sustainable solutions, requires more than technical interventions, it requires rethinking and redesigning the basic spatial and socio-cultural paradigms that prevail at present. In this course we will analyze examples of port cities from a multi-disciplinary, cross-cultural perspective. You will develop the skills to identify and address the challenges port cities face now and into the future.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Decision Making Urban Planning Sustainable Development Goals
Details
Creating a Pro-Renewables Environment (edX) EdX
Imperial College London,ImperialX

Creating a Pro-Renewables Environment (edX)

Sci: Energy & Earth Sciences Social Sciences

Understand the policy, regulatory and fiscal measures that can incentivise renewable power and drive cleaner investment along the entire electricity supply chain. This course provides the tools needed to build a low-carbon power sector around the world. By diving into the perspective of different players in the power sector - from investors through to utilities, regulators and project developers - you will be able to choose the right strategies, policies and other levers needed to incentivise a cleaner power mix in your own context.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Renewable Energy Supply Chain Clean Power Professional Certificate
Details
Indigenous Peoples' Rights (edX) EdX
Columbia University

Indigenous Peoples' Rights (edX)

Social Sciences

Examine how Indigenous Peoples have been contesting norms, institutions and global debates in the past 50 years, and how they have been re-shaping and gradually decolonizing these systems at international and national levels. Indigenous Peoples, numbering more than 476 million in some 90 countries and about 5000 groups and representing a great part of the world’s human diversity and cultural heritage, continue to raise major controversies and to face threats to their physical and cultural existence.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Human Rights Social Sciences Indigenous
Details
Sustainable Urban Development (edX) EdX
Wageningen University,Delft University of Technology,DelftX,WageningenX

Sustainable Urban Development (edX)

Engineering Social Sciences

Learn why cities are key in resolving global urbanization and sustainability challenges and how you can engineer tomorrow’s cities today. Did you know that cities take up less than 3% of the earth’s land surface, but more than 50% of the world’s population live in them? And, cities generate more than 70% of the global emissions? Large cities and their hinterlands (jointly called metropolitan regions) greatly contribute to global urbanization and sustainability challenges, yet are also key to resolving these same challenges.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Planning Sustainability Population
Details
Ethics in Action (edX) EdX
SDGAcademyX,SDG Academy

Ethics in Action (edX)

Social Sciences

What do the world’s great religious and secular philosophies have to say about ethical conduct? Which virtues are common across faiths? And what role do religious communities have to play in building a more just and sustainable world? The challenges of sustainable development are more than technical or political—they are also moral, calling on us to examine who we are as human beings, and who we want to be going forward.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Ethics Poverty Peace
Details
International Human Rights Law (edX) EdX
LouvainX,Université Catholique de Louvain - UCL

International Human Rights Law (edX)

Humanities Law

Learn how an individual’s human rights are protected from both public and private power by international laws. Human rights are developed through the constant dialogue between international human rights bodies and domestic courts, in a search that crosses geographical, cultural and legal boundaries. The result is a unique human rights grammar, which this course shall discuss and question, examining the sources of human rights, the rights of individuals, the duties of States, and the mechanisms of protection.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Human Rights International Law International Human Rights
Details
Producción y consumo responsable: ODS 12 (edX) EdX
Universidad del Rosario,URosarioX

Producción y consumo responsable: ODS 12 (edX)

Sci: Environment

Aprende las formas de producir y consumir sanamente a partir de un enfoque agroecológico, contribuyendo así al cuidado del planeta. Este curso en línea se enfoca en el objetivo número 12 de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible de las Naciones Unidas. Partiendo de la hipótesis de que hay un desconocimiento generalizado sobre los impactos, alcances y acciones en el desarrollo de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS), junto a la falta de claridad sobre la participación efectiva de las organizaciones de la sociedad civil, se propone la realización del siguiente curso en el que se abordará, para comenzar, el ODS 12 buscando generar un diálogo multilateral con participación del gobierno, academia, organizaciones sociales y público interesado.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
SDGs Desarrollo Sostenible Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible
Details
Climate Change: Carbon Capture and Storage (edX) EdX
University of Edinburgh,EdinburghX

Climate Change: Carbon Capture and Storage (edX)

Engineering Sci: Energy & Earth Sciences

Explore the technology that can provide a long-term solution to protect our atmosphere from an excess of carbon dioxide, in the context of global energy, our use of fossil fuels, and climate change. The atmosphere is a shared resource and the amount of greenhouse gases it can absorb is a finite resource. This introductory course to the technology of Carbon Capture and Storage is designed for a wider audience with an interest in energy, sustainability and climate change.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Sustainability Energy Climate Change
Details